The Cecil Whig., 1887-07-09
What May BE Accomplished by Energy
and PerseNeramce.

under the writer S own observation.
where success trod closely on the heel of
perseverance and industry:
A man can make living, and also
make money. in hundreds of different
ways in this country, and it is :. mighty
good thing that this is SO, else overpro-
duetion would be the rule, not the ex-
cepton. | know Il man who is getting
rich out of baby swings. It's a simple,
cheap thing to make, and he started i'll a
simple and cheap way to make them, his
entire outfit OF tools compriaing two
SAWS, two saw benches, Il draw shave,
two hand planes, brace and some bits,
a rough work bench. He didn't stand
around with hands in his pockets waiting
for somebody with capital to come along
and boost him. Not much. He thought
these swings would sell, so he made one
| and peddled it round until he found a
purchaser. Then he made another and
sold that, and thus he kept on until fin
ally people began to think his swings
were good thing to have in the family,
started eight years ago, and alone did all
the work of making and selling them.
Things with him are very different to-
day. He has a shop two stories in height,
and machinery for saving, planning, bor-
ing, mortising, turning, and sandpaper-
ing the material entering into the con-
struction of these swings. In that shop
forty men find constant employment,
and, as | said before, the owner is get
ting rich out of it. Counting the wives
and children of the workmen in that
shop, there is a population of nearly or
quite one hundred and fifty making
living ont of one mans idea that a baby
swing would sell. A baby swing is not
a very big thing, but it is in this case
big enough to keep quite little village
busy and comfortable.
y step ladder is a mighty handy thing
to have around the house. Five years
ago three men, by the closest kird of
scraping, twisting, and borrowing, man.
aged to get together five hundred dollars,
They bought some lumber, rugged ~ a
circular, or buzz, rip saw, and started in
to make step ladders. For two years it
was a struggle of the hardest kind; sales
had to be made by personal canvass,
prices obtained permitted no margin of
profit, and the outlook was of such a
discouraging nature that their friends
and neighbors pitied them first, then
prophesied dead failure, and finally
laughed at their folly in sticking by a
losing game. There came change,
however. A prominent house-furnishing
goods firm one day wrote them for prices
on five thousand ladders. The size of
this possible order very nearly took them
off their feet. They had sense enough,
however, to understand that this big
house would not give them the order un-
less prices were made away down, so
they sat down and figured the thing over,
and having decided that matter, awaited
the result, which TUNED in their favor
and they got the order. Then they went
| to work; each one took his coat off and
pitched in; they worked sixteen hours a
day until that order Was filled, aud it
was filled OH time, and each ladder was
honestly made. The ouly expense they
realized was for lumber, screws, aud
paint. They bad done all the work
themselves. This was the tuning point
in their business career. Within month
from tne delivery uc tLesa five thousand
| ladders they had contracted with the
same house for Il monthly supply of two
thousand five hundred. They were on
their feet now, and began to push things.
They are turning out to day, with fifteen
men, ten Thousand step ladders each
month, ard have been doing this for
more than year. y step ladder is
| little thing, but these men are making
money out of them.
About fifteen years ago. in one of the
big planning mills i'll Chicago, strip of
board catching, III some unaccountab,e
manner, on buzz saw, was hurled with
violence against the leg of one of the
workmen, breaking it and badly mang
ling the flesh. Tho injury resulted il
incapacitating the man for performing
the labor required of him i'll the mill,
and lie was compelled to seek other
means of livelihood. A man of fine me-
chancal attainments, his endeavors very
naturally sought outlet in that direction,
so he built, after his own ideas, a scrol!
or fret saw, foot power, and rugged up a
seat on it, as lie was unable to stand for
any length Of time, and began saving
out and putting trgUthcr articles iOl
household ornament aud utility. lie ic-
galdcd this is simply temporary means
of making living. After a tire he
added to his scroll saw light boring
| attachment and then il little turning
laJhe. Then he bought a cheap set OF
cacver's tools. You see he was always
looking out to save labor and to combine
originality in the articles he turned ont.
Time ran along, and almost before he
knew it, he was getting more orders than
he could, alone, fill, SO he Lirud Il man
to dress and prepare his materials, lay
out the patterns, and put the articles
together. Still his orders increased, lad
he hired another and still another man.
Today he has thirty men in his employ
ment, and he does no physical labor HIM
self. Making money? Yes, right along,
but it was very little thing that gave
him his start.
Now, the point wish to make is this;
Capital, in large amounts, is no. recess
sary in the founding OF industrial enter
prises. \ good deal of pluck and energy,
and unconquerable perseverance,, aIe
better than money, because, havirg
these, money becomes the result, not tie
means, of success. Money is valuable,
not as the means by which an end may
be accomplished, but rather because it is
the result of an accomplished end. 1t
has power, immense power, but without
energy behind it, it is powerless. Perso-
verance and energy can make money,
but money cannot make perseverance
and energy. What | wouli like to see
in our Sunny South is more small indus
trial establishments. | would rather SEQ
a dozen shops employing three mcu each,
than one shop employing three dozen
men. There is more money II the three
| dOZpn because there is greater DOSSi-